Expert: Kristen Brannock, MPH - 10/25/2007

Question
Hello, I hope you can help with this answer. My son was told 10 years ago he has aids, he is now after many years finally taking his meds. However my question is, he does not seem to pass it on to anyother person. How is this possible? Can he be a carrier and not pass this on? Could it be something other than AIDS that he might have. I know for a fact he has been with several women and has had unprotected sex. They have called my house after the fact of finding out this information. But no one has turned out positive why? Not that this does not make me unhappy of course.

Thanks

Peg

Answer
I'm not sure about this, but it may be illegal for someone to have unprotected sex and not disclose their HIV+ status. Your son is needlessly putting other people at risk.

Just because someone has HIV, it does not mean that they will definitely pass it on to someone. The virus does not flow uniformly throughout the body, so someone may ejaculate and it contain very little virus, then ejaculate another time and it contain a lot. People who are on medication are even less likely to transmit the virus because their medication lowers their viral load.